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GROUP ACTIONS IN SYMPLECTIC GEOMETRY
JAREK K†DRA
Let (M, ω) be a closed symplectic manifold. The group of all symplectic dieomorphisms of (M, ω) is denoted by Symp(M, ω). It is the
group of all dieomorphisms preserving the symplectic form. There
is a connected subgroup Ham(M, ω) ⊂ Symp(M, ω), called the group
of Hamiltonian dieomorphisms. It consists of those dieomorphisms
generated by the ows of vector elds induced by functions. Such a
time dependent vector eld Xt is dened by
iXt ω = dHt ,
where Ht : M → R. An action G → Ham(M, ω) is called Hamiltonian.
What groups G admit Hamitlonian actions on closed
symplectic manifolds?
Question.
There are many nontrivial examples of Hamiltonian actions of compact groups. They are very well understood [5]. On the other hand,
there is the following elementary result by Delzant [1].
If a connected semisimple Lie group G admits
a Hamiltonian action on a closed symplectic manifold (M, ω) then it is
compact.
Theorem (Delzant).
This motivates the question whether there are interesting Hamiltonian actions of innite discrete groups like, for example, lattices in
semisimple Lie groups. In turns out that, under certain geometric conditions, there are restrictions.
f → M be the universal cover. A symplectic form ω on
Let p : M
M is called hyperbolic if its pull back p∗ ω admits a primitive α ∈
f) bounded with respect to the Riemannian metric induced from
Ω1 (M
a Riemannian metric on M. A manifold equipped with a hyperbolic
symplectic form is called symplectically hyperbolic.
Examples of symplectically hyperbolic manifolds:
(1) A surface of genus at least two; a product of such surfaces;
(2) A symplectic manifold admitting a Riemannian metric of negative sectional curvature;
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JAREK K†DRA
(3) A symplectically aspherical manifold with hyperbolic fundamental group; recall that a symplectic manifold M is called
symplectically aspherical if every two-sphere in M has trivial
symplectic area;
(4) A symplectic manifold such that the cohomology class of the
symplectic form is bounded, that it is represented by a bounded
singular cochain.
[6]). Let (M, ω) be a closed symplectically
hyperbolic manifold. If Γ ⊂ Ham(M, ω) is a nitely generated subgroup
then all cyclic subgroups of Γ are undistorted.
A cyclic subgroup G of a nitely generated group Γ is called undistorted if there exists a positive constant C > 0 such that
Theorem (Polterovich
|g n | ≥ C · n,
where g ∈ G is a generator. The norm |g| is the word norm with respect
to the nite set of generators.
Examples of groups with undistorted cyclic subgroups:
(1) a free nonabelian cyclic subgroup;
(2) a right angled Artin group;
(3) a hyperbolic group;
Examples of distorted cyclic subgroups:
(1) a nite cyclic subgroup;
(2) the centre of the uppertriangular 3 × 3-matrices with integer
entries;
(3) a non-uniform irreducible lattice in a semisimple Lie group
of higher rank admits distorted cyclic subgroups; for example
SL(n, Z), for n > 2 [4].
It follows from the Polterovich theorem that irreducible lattices in
semisimple Lie groups of higher rank do not admit eective Hamiltonian actions on symplectically hyperbolic manifolds.
An alternative proof of the Polterovich theorem has been given by
Gal and K¦dra in [2]. The original proof by Polterovich is published in
[6]. Examples of hyperbolic symplectic forms are discussed by K¦dra
in [3].
References
[1] Thomas Delzant. Sous-algebres de dimension nie de l'algebre des champs hmiltoniens. unpublished.
[2] ‘wiatosªaw Gal and Jarek K¦dra. A cocycle on the group of symplectic dieomorphisms. Advances in Geometry, to appear.
GROUP ACTIONS IN SYMPLECTIC GEOMETRY
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[3] Jarek Kedra. Symplectically hyperbolic manifolds. Dierential Geom. Appl.,
27(4):455463, 2009.
[4] Alexander Lubotzky, Shahar Mozes, and M. S. Raghunathan. The word and
Riemannian metrics on lattices of semisimple groups. Inst. Hautes Études Sci.
Publ. Math., (91):553 (2001), 2000.
[5] Dusa McDu and Dietmar Salamon. Introduction to symplectic topology. Oxford
Mathematical Monographs. The Clarendon Press Oxford University Press, New
York, second edition, 1998.
[6] Leonid Polterovich. Growth of maps, distortion in groups and symplectic geometry. Invent. Math., 150(3):655686, 2002.
University of Aberdeen and University of Szczecin
E-mail address : [email protected]